


Lost Girls

by faithinthepoor



Series: Once Upon a Time [17]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-13
Updated: 2013-01-13
Packaged: 2017-11-25 08:20:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/636939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faithinthepoor/pseuds/faithinthepoor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I have to say that this is my The Crocodile related fic but given the episode doesn't even feature Regina or Emma it would be more accurate to say that it is set between Lady of the Lake and The Doctor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost Girls

**Author's Note:**

> In my series this follows my [Fairytale Drabbles](http://archiveofourown.org/works/618763), [Mirror Mirror](http://archiveofourown.org/works/618771), [This Provincial Life](http://archiveofourown.org/works/618775), [Viviane or Nimue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/618809), [Dreams and Wishes](http://archiveofourown.org/works/618851), [All the Better To….](http://archiveofourown.org/works/619484), [Magic Keys](http://archiveofourown.org/works/619497), [Curiouser and Curiouser](http://archiveofourown.org/works/619514), [Snow Blind](http://archiveofourown.org/works/620280), [Spinning Straw](http://archiveofourown.org/works/620288), [Wooden Hearts](http://archiveofourown.org/works/621128), [Poisoned](http://archiveofourown.org/works/622526), [True Love and Other Curses](http://archiveofourown.org/works/625038), [Spellbound](http://archiveofourown.org/works/628806), [Over the Rainbow](http://archiveofourown.org/works/630076) and [Facades](http://archiveofourown.org/works/632227)

Everything is strange here. Nothing makes sense to her. Not even her dreams. Sleep should be her one refuge from the fact that her world has been turned upside down but it is the strangest place of all.

There is something wrong with her dreams. She is certain of it. A few short days ago, in what was literally a different world, she would have thought such a thing was impossible but she is absolutely convinced that someone is interfering with her dreams. 

She is dreaming now. She shouldn’t know that but she does. She is not in that realm between sleep and wake where events in the real world can cause dreams to warp and twist, this is deep sleep. These dreams feel heavy - as though she may never escape them. 

It’s clear that she is dreaming because the dream is always the same. Ever since she arrived here she has dreamt of Regina. It’s definitely Regina but it’s not the Regina Emma knows. She is younger, her hair is longer and even her voice is different. It’s more than just the change from a girl to a woman, it’s as though this Regina is an entirely different person. It’s not that big a deal, it doesn’t have to mean anything, after all anything is possible in dreams. The problem is that this Regina is not a dream. She is something else, something stranger. She is a memory. Just not Emma’s memory.

Someone is trying to force this memory on her. To imprint her mind with the knowledge that Regina used to be different. The Regina in the dream is always accompanied by a young man. He makes her laugh. He makes her smile. He makes her something that Emma has never seen Regina be – he makes her happy.

Emma suspects that she is meant to be devastated by the sight of them together. She is sure that the person who forces these images into her mind wants to cripple her with them. This makes Emma think that she needs to add yet another person to the list of those who don’t understand her.

Cora, and really who else can it be but Cora, is clearly targeting her. The dreams started in the pit and while they have weakened since Lancelot’s identity was revealed they haven’t gone.

She has an idea as to why Cora may have singled her out. That said she doesn’t know for certain that she is the only one having her dreams interfered with but she doesn’t what to ask the others if it is happening to them. The reason she keeps it a secret is also the reason she thinks Cora selected her - everybody thinks of her as the weakest link. She will not add fuel to that fire.

Emma knows she is vulnerable here. She doesn’t understand this place. She has a passing familiarity with fairytales but it appears that this does not equip her to deal with the reality of this world. It makes sense for Cora to target her. Even her travelling companions see her as a liability. She understands why they feel this way but it annoys the crap out of her. Aurora wouldn’t last a second in some of the places Emma has lived and even Mulan would be gunned down if she took her attitude and her sword to the areas where Emma survived using her wits and her sticky fingers.

As much as the opinions of the inhabitants of this land annoy her, those same opinions are also to her advantage. There are worse things to be than underestimated. She has been underestimated her whole life and is much more comfortable in the role of failure than of saviour. Being thought of as useless, even by Snow who is meant to love her, is better than being thought of as a threat.

Cora might be invading her dreams but she is clearly failing to invade Emma’s mind. Emma made a mistake by mentioning Henry and by letting Cora know that she has a complicated relationship with Regina but thankfully Cora doesn’t understand her enough to use the information against her.

Seeing Regina with someone else isn’t going to make her fall to pieces. Emma knows who the young man is; his existence is not a revelation to her. His presence has been a spectre hanging over all of her interactions with Regina. Seeing him in the flesh, so to speak, doesn’t make him any more foreboding or formidable.

Regina clearly loved him, that is not new information, but being forced to see Regina with him makes Emma realise that that doesn’t matter. She suspects that Cora was showing her this younger, happier Regina in order to hurt her but the truth is that Emma has found it comforting.

The young, almost tomboyish, girl is not the woman that Emma loves. The girl is undeniably pretty but she doesn’t have the sad beauty of the woman that Emma knows. Emma’s Regina is flawed and tragic and that speaks to the part of Emma that feels the same. The happy girl doesn’t understand life and loss. She is meant for her boy. The older, scarred, version of Regina is meant for someone different. Emma hopes that she is that someone.

Emma can’t help thinking about Regina, which is undoubtedly Cora’s intention, but she does her best to bury those thoughts as deep as she can. She doesn’t know how powerful Cora is, she knows that Cora has failed to cause her pain but she doesn’t know the extent of Cora’s reach. She worries that if Cora can implant things into her dreams then she might also be able to take things from them. She doesn’t want Cora to know just how she feels about Regina. She doesn’t even want Cora to know what her Regina is like because Emma is pretty sure that Regina wouldn’t want Cora to know anything about her.

She may be naïve to the ways of this land and there are many things that she doesn’t understand but she is not incapable of learning. She was foolish, she should have heeded the advice of Mary Margaret and stayed well away from Cora but it was an easy mistake to make. Mary Margaret would have said exactly the same thing about Regina and she would have been wrong. Regina is not the same as her mother and she not just the evil queen that Mary Margaret sees. 

It’s not so strange that Emma would want to see some good in Cora. That woman was the one link Emma had to Regina. Their shared connection to Regina is the true danger for Emma. It, rather than her lack of knowledge of this land, is the thing that makes her weak and vulnerable. 

Even in her dreams it makes her vulnerable. Perhaps especially then. The intrusions aren’t a problem in and of themselves but the response they case in Emma is. They don’t just invoke thoughts of Regina, the real Regina, they cause Emma’s Regina to manifest. 

The appearance of this Regina distorts the rest of the dream. It’s as though there is wall or a shield of some sort separating them from the dreamscape. Emma can still see the young Regina but she is fuzzy and far away. 

Things seem different in the hazy bubble that isolates Emma and her Regina for everything else. It seems more real and also more worrying. In the main dream Emma feels safe. It’s as though the normal rules of dreams still apply. She could fly if she wanted. She could die and it wouldn’t matter. The area within the makeshift wall doesn’t give her that sense. Her sanctuary feels anything but safe. There is a force pushing on her shield and Emma fears that if that shield fails she will be crushed.

Regina looks at the haze and a flicker of something Emma has never seen in her before flashes through Regina’s eyes. “You shouldn’t keep doing this. It’s making things worse.”

“I’m not doing anything.”

“You are summoning me here. It’s not safe for either of us.”

“God even when I dream you up you act like you know better than me,” Emma says in frustration. “What the hell is wrong with me? Why can’t I even have nice dreams about you?”

“This isn’t an ordinary dream,” Regina cautions.

“I know that,” Emma replies, “in fact you only know that because I know that. You’re not really here.”

“I know things,” dream Regina is rather indignant, “I know _she_ is here and I know that she is very angry.” 

“She can’t hurt us,” Emma says with more certainty than she feels. 

“You don’t know that. You don’t know her.”

“You’re frightened. I didn’t think you were frightened of anyone, except maybe Gold.”

“She is not anyone. You mustn’t underestimate her.”

“I’m learning that.”

“Not fast enough,” Regina’s look of disapproval makes Emma feel incredibly small, “you keep conjuring me.”

“I don’t mean to. It’s hard for me not to think about you. I miss you.” There are some advantages to only being able to see Regina in her dreams. At least here she can say all the things that she would never dare tell the actual Regina.

“I miss you too,” Regina’s face has softened, “but we can’t keep doing this.”

“Doing what? Because we aren’t doing anything. I am the worst dreamer ever. We should not be standing around talking. There are much more enjoyable things that we could be doing. For starters when I dream you up you should be naked.”

Emma takes a step towards Regina but the other woman retreats. In response the shield glows red. Regina stares at it as she says, “I can feel her anger.”

Emma wants to disagree but she can sense it too. She points at the haze, “Do you think it will hold.”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know if it stops her hearing us. I certainly don’t think it stops her seeing us.”

“Well you know we could put on one hell of a show for her if we wanted,” Emma reaches towards Regina’s face.

Regina slaps the hand away, “You are clearly not listening to a word I’m saying. The only show we should put on for her is an all out brawl.”

“I don’t want to fight you. I don’t ever want to do that.”

“History suggests otherwise,” there is mirth in Regina’s voice even though her words are true.

“We don’t get a lot of things right, do we?”

“We have our moments,” there is real affection in Regina’s eyes, “but we can’t risk her knowing that.”

“I am pretty sure that she knows that I care for you.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“I get it. I’m not the girl that you take home to meet the parents.”

“Emma this isn’t a joke and you shouldn’t smile at me like that. Not here. We should be doing all we can to make her think that I hate you.”

“Regina it’s hard enough being away from you. I don’t want to fight you,” She reaches for Regina again only to have Regina’s hand clamp around her wrist like a vice.

“Do you even want to get back to Storybrooke?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then the next time you try to touch me here it better be with a closed fist.”

“I won’t do that.”

“If we are to have any chance of getting back to one another you may have to,” the urgency in Regina’s voice seems out of proportion given the current setting. 

“Regina this is just a dream.”

“If you say so,” Regina tells her and just as she does the wall glows red again and rushes towards them.

The fear in Regina’s eyes is real and despite all of her talk about danger Regina reaches for her and mouths ‘Emma’ before the wall smashes her to pieces. 

Emma screams but it Mary Margaret who hears. She finds herself in Mary Margaret’s arms being rocked slowly.

“Emma you are finally awake,” Mary Margaret runs her hand over Emma’s hair, “you wouldn’t stop screaming and I couldn’t seem to wake you.”

It makes no sense. For Emma the scream lasted but a second and the waking was instant. She was right to be worried, and Regina was right to be cautious, there is something very wrong with her dreams.

“We have to get out of this place.”

“I know honey,” Mary Margaret continues to stroke her hair, “I promise we will. We will get you back safely. We have to, for Henry’s sake.”

“Yes, for Henry,” she agrees and although Henry is not insignificant it is not her son’s face that fills her mind or haunts her dreams and he is not the one that she is desperate to get back to.


End file.
